So then, let’s pick up as though the last week didn’t happen, shall we? The primary food improvement is I’m improving over what happened on Friday. From being 205% of my calories, I was 101% today. I’m finding it very difficult with all this snack food in the house to stay under the 1620 calories and 138.5 gms of carps per day, but even today there were obvious things to cut out: The bf got small, 100-calorie croissants from the grocery yesterday, and I wanted to try one so I did this morning. But then, I saw there were two left-over pancakes in the ‘fridge from what I made yesterday for him and his mom, so I had one. The rice is from yesterday, half the mint is from yesterday. So … close.
On food, I also did a bit of re-planning for later this week so’s to avoid the high-carb chicken biryani I had planned, replacing it with Greek chicken tonight and tomorrow, and a “healthy” sausage-pasta dish Friday (made with lentil-based pasta). Assuming no more snacking that has carbs (ha!), I’ll come in at 100% of my carbs for the week, not going over. Unlikely to happen.
I also did have one food “win” yesterday: I was in the office for three hours, and I mostly ate what I’d planned: I had the pre-planned two slices of pizza provided at a seminar, but then one 1-oz bag of Fritos I thought would fit into my meal plan until I actually put them in. Now, if only I don’t have doughnuts on Friday …
Exercise-wise, a huge thing happened today: I biked! For the first time in almost nine years, since mid-June 2013 (see, this is what happens when you track things, you get to say stuff like that). The last time I almost walked The Loop (about 10 days ago), a lot of bicyclists were on this dirt road. Which got me to thinking that maybe I could, too. Basically, when I moved in with the bf to this hilly, dirt area, I stopped biking because I figured there’s no way I’m biking up a 400ft-high hill with 25–30% grades. Not happening.
But, we’ve been driving him down to swim in Boulder while I’ve been walking the paths there. Which got me to thinking: My bike fits in his car, why not just bike down there? One burns more calories per minute biking than walking, and I like to bike more than walk (I feel like I’m going slowly when I walk, and that I’m “wasting time” getting “from here to there” (especially since “there” is where I started)).
So, last night I pulled the bike off the top shelf in the garage and tried filling the tires with air to see if they’d hold. Surprisingly, they did. I then brought it inside and while we watched Star Trek: Discovery, I spent those two hours cleaning it, at least superficially what I could do without taking it apart. This was after blowing it all over with compressed air due to the thick layer of dirt covering every surface. Oh: And the water bottle still had water in it … from mid-2013. 🤮
So, this afternoon, despite the 57mph winds (that’s one of the reasons I did almost no exercise last week: Every day we had >40mph winds for house on end during the daylight hours), I first checked that the tires were still inflated; they were. Then I biked around the driveway to make sure that brakes still worked and gears changed. They did (except one gear). Biked 200m on the road and still worked.
So, while I biked down the dirt road (2.5 km, 400 ft down), the bf followed slowly in his car. I rode the brakes the entire way (almost), and though it was very unpleasant due to the bumpiness, the bike held together and the tires did not have any obvious leaks. So, then he walked while I biked on the actual paved road.
Almost 🤮.
Just going up a 20-meter-high hill (≈65 ft), my heart rate quickly rose up to 175bpm and stayed there. I had to pause twice, for several minutes, on the side of the road just to get it back down and my breathing under control and my legs not feeling like they’d fall off. It was ridiculous. But, I made it to the top of a hill we sometimes use as a marker, about 1.5 km past the mailboxes, and I turned around and got back to the car, waited 5–10 minutes for the bf to get back, unlock the car, and load the bike (I’m not biking up that hill!). I was still breathing hard when he got back, and coughing for another hour.
Ridiculously out of shape. Kinda pathetic. More reason to work on it!
We’re taking the bike into the shop tomorrow, after he swims and I either bike or walk, so it can get the necessary cleaning, adjustments, and replacement parts for a bike that hasn’t been serviced since it was bought about 12 years ago.
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